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Article
Publication date: 2 September 2014

Sylvia Chant

The purpose of this paper is to explore links between a revisionist view of the “feminisation of poverty” in developing countries and women’s work and home-based enterprise in…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore links between a revisionist view of the “feminisation of poverty” in developing countries and women’s work and home-based enterprise in urban slums.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper’s discussion of the “feminisation of poverty” draws substantially from ethnographic field research conducted in The Gambia, The Philippines and Costa Rica. This research led the author to propose the notion of a “feminisation of responsibility and/or obligation”. The latter approach draws attention to issues such as gendered disparities of labour, time and resource inputs into household livelihoods, which are often most marked in male-headed units, and are not captured in conventional referents of the “feminisation of poverty”, which are rather narrowly confined to incomes and female household headship.

Findings

An integral element of the author’s critique is that the main policy response to classic “feminisation of poverty” thinking, to date, has been to “feminise” anti-poverty initiatives such as Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and microfinance programmes.

Originality/value

The paper argues that the “feminisation of poverty” compounds the tensions women already face in terms of managing unpaid reproductive and/or “volunteer” work with their economic contributions to household livelihoods, and it is in the context of urban slums, where housing, service and infrastructure deficiencies pose considerable challenges to women’s dual burdens of productive and reproductive labour. The paper emphasizes that to more effectively address gender inequality while also alleviating poverty, policy interventions sensitive to women’s multiple, time-consuming responsibilities and obligations are paramount.

Details

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-6266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1990

Marcia Lee Agee and Roger W. Walker

“Feminisation of poverty” is a phrase heard frequentlytoday, not only in the popular press, but also in professional groupsconcerned with women. It suggests that women living…

Abstract

“Feminisation of poverty” is a phrase heard frequently today, not only in the popular press, but also in professional groups concerned with women. It suggests that women living alone with their children bear a disproportionate share of the poverty burden. The following questions are discussed: Is this a crisis for American society? Is the standard of living getting worse for women and children, even as it improves for the general population? If it is, why is it happening? And finally, what could be done about it? Data are examined that show that “feminisation of poverty” is a significant problem in the United States. The reasons women are more likely to be poor include inadequate paying jobs, an expanding labourforce, and unique problems associated with female head‐of‐households. Solutions to feminisation of poverty include raising low income jobs via minimum wage and comparable worth legislation, establishing and enforcing realistic child support and spousal maintenance levels, significantly raising the level of public support programmes for children, making available reasonable education‐training‐retraining programmes for women, emphasising the prevention of poverty, and providing better health education and chemical dependency intervention.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 17 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1991

Marcia Lee Agee and Roger W. Walker

“Being poor is a cardinal sin in our society,” one attorney notes in connection with an observation that women face an uphill battle in terms of the effects of poverty on child…

Abstract

“Being poor is a cardinal sin in our society,” one attorney notes in connection with an observation that women face an uphill battle in terms of the effects of poverty on child custody outcomes. Evidence from the same document quotes a Minnesota referee who is renowned for his usual statement to female AFDC recipients:’ How much of the taxpayers money are you currently receiving? (17,p.25)”.

Details

Equal Opportunities International, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0261-0159

Article
Publication date: 18 August 2021

Parthiban S. Gopal and Gayathri Sathyanarayanan

The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the severe impact on the abilities of urban poor women such as education skills, entrepreneurship qualities, employment skills, creative…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the severe impact on the abilities of urban poor women such as education skills, entrepreneurship qualities, employment skills, creative abilities and social skills, as they face many challenges like inequitable access to work and unacceptable living conditions influenced by an underlying mind-set in the society driven by gender socialization. Though there have been changes in the way we perceive the abilities of urban poor women from being a homemaker to participating in employment and access to education, one cannot deny that discrimination and bias based on gender socialization still exists in the society.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses secondary data through a systematic review where the inclusion criteria were framed on the basis of relevance, credibility and heterogeneity. However, as this is a concept paper, the study is bereft of empirical data.

Findings

In most cases, the ability and potential of women, such as educational skills, entrepreneurship qualities, employment skills, creative abilities and social skills, go unnoticed or, more often, not taken into consideration. Predominantly influenced by gender roles, not all abilities and skills are associated with women; this kind of labelling process refers to gender socialization. Ongoing in society for a long time to an extent, it has been accepted consciously or subconsciously by men and women. As a result, urban poor women, in particular, are further deprived of their capabilities, directly affecting their personal growth and economic status.

Originality/value

Poverty affects men, women, boys and girls, but it is experienced differently by people of different ages, ethnicities, family roles and sex. Moreover, due to women’s biology, social and cultural gender roles and culturally constructed subordination, they are labelled with specific roles dictated by various social agents; This labelling process refers to gender socialization. As a result, capable women with untapped skills, abilities and potential to learn, work, earn, play and develop are ignored or suppressed; hence, they go unnoticed, further intensifying poverty among poor urban women.

Details

International Journal of Development Issues, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1446-8956

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 January 2021

Sikiru Jimoh Babalola and Saidatulakmal Mohd

The purpose of this study is to analyse the influence of household and community characteristics on multidimensional poverty in communities hosting public universities in Ondo…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyse the influence of household and community characteristics on multidimensional poverty in communities hosting public universities in Ondo state, Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

The study constructs Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) using Alkire-Foster methodology and uses logistic regression to analyse the likelihood of experiencing multidimensional poverty.

Findings

Findings from the study suggest that child schooling attendance, child mortality and asset ownership are the indicators in which households are mostly deprived in education, health and living standards consecutively. In addition, using logistic regression, the study finds multidimensional poverty reducing effects of education, age (before old), household size (having more economically active members), income and residing in urban areas. The study, however, documents that living far away from the universities increases the likelihood of experiencing multidimensional poverty in those communities.

Research limitations/implications

To reduce multidimensional poverty in the communities of study, there is need to implement policies that will improve child schooling, reduce infant mortality, increase gainful employment and create enabling environment for asset ownership. This is in addition to upgrading infrastructure in those communities especially in their fringe areas so that development can spread, and multidimensional poverty reduction can follow in no distant future.

Originality/value

Unlike capturing the effect of location on possibility of experiencing poverty using rural or urban dummy, the authors, in addition to that, incorporate distance to university variable on the premise of distance decay mechanism.

Details

Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, vol. 38 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1026-4116

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 February 2008

Indunil De Silva

The main purpose of this paper is to construct a poverty profile for Sri Lanka, and examine the micro‐level determinants and correlates of poverty.

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Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is to construct a poverty profile for Sri Lanka, and examine the micro‐level determinants and correlates of poverty.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on the latest Sri Lanka Integrated Survey commissioned by the World Bank. The unconditional poverty profile was constructed using three different poverty measures (poverty headcount, average poverty gap and squared poverty gap), nested in the Foster‐Greer‐Thorbecke index. The conditional poverty profile was constructed on the basis of a multivariate analysis of poverty correlates. Partial correlates of poverty are computed using two comparable methodologies. First, a logistic regression was estimated, with the probability of a household being in poverty as the dependent variable and a set of economic and demographic variables as correlates. Second, the quantile regression approach was utilized to examine the correlates of per capita consumption at different points on the distribution.

Findings

The empirical findings are broadly encouraging. The estimation results show that the education of the household head, being salary employed and being engaged in business have a significant positive effect on the standard of living. The probability of being poor increases with the household size, household head being female, living in a rural area, and being a casual wage earner. These findings indicate the importance of a set of policies which are super pro‐poor, namely increasing school enrolment and achievement, effective family planning programs to reduce the birth rate and dependency load within households, and granting priorities for specific cohorts (children‐, elderly‐, rural‐ and female‐headed households) in targeted interventions.

Originality/value

This is the first study that examines the probable determinants and correlates of Sri Lankan poverty in a multivariate framework employing both logit and quantile regressions.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 35 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1990

Emiel W. Owens

Poverty numbers have decreased in the United States over the pastfew decades but these statistics tend to mask trends for differentdemographic groups. Aged women living alone make…

Abstract

Poverty numbers have decreased in the United States over the past few decades but these statistics tend to mask trends for different demographic groups. Aged women living alone make up 95 per cent of non‐family households, and 47 per cent of these women had annual incomes of less than $10,000 and most were living at the poverty threshold in 1989. Concern about poverty among the aged is addressed from two perspectives. First, changes in the magnitude, characteristics and incidence of poverty among the aged population are reviewed. Secondly, analytical models of the severity of poverty are presented and these models are used to describe techniques that may be employed in attempting to alleviate poverty in one category of the aged poor where it seems most acute and most intractable, i.e. aged women living alone. Three poverty models are presented: (1) concentrating economic aid to those just below the poverty threshold and reducing numbers; (2) concentrating aid to those in deepest need; and (3) a sliding scale. The modified welfare ratio model showed that concentrating economic aid to the aged poor in deepest need (furthest from the poverty threshold) yields greater social and economic benefits.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 17 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 June 2020

Silvana Mariano

This study addresses the importance of paid work for the autonomy of poor women in the Bolsa Família Programme (BFP), Brazil. The aim of this study is to consider the influence…

Abstract

Purpose

This study addresses the importance of paid work for the autonomy of poor women in the Bolsa Família Programme (BFP), Brazil. The aim of this study is to consider the influence that BFP may have on women seeking paid work, by comparing the situation and the perceptions of women who receive Bolsa Família (BF) with those of women who fall within this same profile but are not included in the programme.

Design/methodology/approach

The aim of this study is to consider the influence that BFP may have on women seeking paid work, by comparing the situation and the perceptions of women who receive Bolsa Família (BF) with those of women who fall within this same profile but are not included in the programme. Data were produced from a case study, using a non-probability sample and structured individual interviews in a large city in the south of Brazil.

Findings

CCTs designed in the moulds of the BFP, despite its relevance for alleviating poverty, do not have the potential to empower women or for their autonomy, since they do not contribute towards tackling the barriers resulting from the interaction between paid and unpaid labour, and gender determinants in this interaction.

Research limitations/implications

The methodology adopted, with content analysis, allows the collection of the research group participants’ experiences and perceptions, considering the specific nature of the material and symbolic context investigated. However, it does not allow for broad generalizations on the relation between CCT programmes and these women`s paid labour. Within the limits of the inferences produced by the content analysis, this study does enable the theories of ‘laziness’ as a risk resulting from social assistance to be dispelled.

Originality/value

Given these findings, the paper reiterates the importance of taking a critical view of the family when drafting development policies.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 40 no. 11/12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 September 2019

Safar Ghaedrahmati and Foad SHahsavari

This paper aims to address housing right for female-headed households in Iran housing plans.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to address housing right for female-headed households in Iran housing plans.

Design/methodology/approach

This research was conducted on female-headed households by a demographic attribute’s analysis. This paper tries to address housing right for female-headed households in housing plans. The analysis is done in the following three steps: (1) demographic variables analysis of female-headed households. Demographic variables include economic, social and health attributes. The statistical information related to the female-headed households in Tehran used in this step is based on the statistics of the Statistical Center of Iran; (2) share of female-headed households in Tehran in proportion to the total households. Also, the activity of female-headed households in Tehran; and (3) share of housing right for female-headed households in Iran Housing Plans. In this step, a questionnaire has been developed for 30 experts in which housing right for female-headed households have been asked for Iran housing plans.

Findings

The results show that with the increase in female-headed households in Tehran, they spend about 49 per cent of their income on housing, which influences the quality and quantity of other essential requirements of them such as food, clothing, health and education. The lack of adequate housing and increased housing rentals have forced them to live in informal settlements and low-quality homes. Based on Women Housing Right, adequate and affordable housing for them has not been considered in Iran’s housing plans.

Social implications

In spite of the emphasis on strengthening the position of female-headed households in the fourth, fifth and sixth development plans of Iran, this has not practically happened. The unfavorable status of female-headed households in the housing system is not due to their lack of problem-solving susceptibility, but their systematic exclusion in housing policy and practice in Tehran.

Originality/value

This paper has not been published in any journal.

Details

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, vol. 12 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 December 2002

Ellen Harshman, Muhammed Islam, Camille A. Nelson and Henry M. Ordower

Investigates the effects on the family and society when an American business owner hides his wealth from creditors and family members, based on a case study where a non‐custodial…

Abstract

Investigates the effects on the family and society when an American business owner hides his wealth from creditors and family members, based on a case study where a non‐custodial father moved funds into highly secret jurisdictions to evade US tax, disappeared, and left his wife left liable for debts. Discusses the ethics of responsibility as they apply to this case of failure to act responsibly, comparing deontological and consequentialist approaches. Outlines the legal remedies for preserving assets: equitable remedy of a preliminary injunction, pre‐judgment attachment, garnishment of wages, transference of property titles, shifting tax burdens, recapturing property, invalidation of obligations, criminalisation of bankruptcy fraud, awarding attorneys’ fees, and contempt rulings. Moves on to the wife’s tax obligations and tax relief, including trust fund taxes and offers in compromise, and then to wider social and behavioural aspects of such cases like childrearing, divorce and remarriage, labour supply, and the feminisation of poverty.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 10 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

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